More than half of the authoritarian regimes across the world are publicly working on CBDCs.

CBDC Tracker

A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...

As part of its CBDC development, the United Arab Emirates just conducted its first "government financial transaction using Digital Dirham."

CBDC Tracker

A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...

This is a wild exchange from the Bank Secrecy Act hearings in 1970. A member of Congress asks why innocent people need privacy, acknowledges Jewish people fleeing the holocaust, and then says "History is a lot of hogwash in this."

One of my favorite things about Bitcoin is that more people than ever are asking questions like, ‘What is money? What is privacy? What is sovereignty?’ It’s through that curiosity that people see what’s at stake.

CCN.com

Nick Anthony on CBDCs, Financial Surveillance and the Fight for the Future of Money

Nick Anthony cautions that CBDCs such as the digital euro could erode privacy, enable financial surveillance, and endanger economic freedom.

It's a little funny promoting my Substack on here since followers get it directly cross-posted as reads. However, if you'd prefer my work in your inbox instead, sign up for my Substack where I cover CBDC developments, financial privacy, debanking, financial freedom, and more. Price of $0/₿0/₳0/€0/₦0/Kč0/₸0/¥0

Banking, Bureaucracy, and Beyond | Nick Anthony | Substack

Everything you need to stay up to speed on the policy conversations surrounding central bank digital currency, financial privacy, banking, and more...

Aimlessly wondering around Prague and I look up to find I’ve stumbled my way to the Czech Central Bank. It seems that even on my off days, I’m tracking central banks.

Many folks are reporting that the digital euro's 2029 launch date is "breaking news." Real ones know that info has been in the @HRF CBDC Tracker since July. 😉 🔗:

CBDC Tracker

A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...

Remember, anon: You can just do things.

Has anyone else noticed how the ECB is ramping up digital euro propaganda?

“A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash.” It’s there if you want it and it’s there if you need it. And frankly, nowadays, having an escape hatch feels more necessary than ever.

So many great questions came up at the Bank Secrecy Act event that I decided to follow up on all of those that couldn't be answered on stage. https://www.cato.org/blog/bank-secrecy-act-qa

Governments force banks to report your activity, judge whether you are being suspicious, and close your accounts when you step out of the norm. How? It dates back to 1970.

55 Years of Financial Surveillance

Reform needs to happen before the Bank Secrecy Act gets to celebrate its next big milestone, argues Nicholas Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato ...

President Richard Nixon had not yet been caught surveilling his political opponents. Instead, Oct. 26, 1970 marks when Nixon signed the Bank Secrecy Act and set the foundation for a new regime of financial surveillance. Often abbreviated as “the BSA,” the Bank Secrecy Act was originally enacted over fears that the rise of air travel in the late 1960s would lead to Americans hiding their money in Swiss bank accounts. As the times changed, so did the concerns. Congress initially targeted tax evaders, but the Bank Secrecy Act was later expanded to also go after drug traffickers. Later, it would be expanded again to go after terrorists. Most recently, Congress has been weighing where and how to apply it to cryptocurrencies. https://www.cato.org/blog/warren-misses-details-bank-secrecy-act Yet, it hasn’t just been the targets that have changed. Congress has also steadily expanded who must report their customers under this regime. Even the @USPS and pawn shops are defined as "financial institutions" here. This ever-growing list of both targets and informants is partly why more than 27.5 million reports were filed on customers last year. https://www.cato.org/blog/reporting-fincens-suspicious-activity-again Congress has prioritized ever-increasing financial surveillance over protections for people’s privacy for 55 years now. It’s time for that to change. It’s time to respect financial privacy and stop treating ever-expanding surveillance as the norm. Reform needs to happen before the Bank Secrecy Act gets to celebrate its next big milestone. For more on how, check out my latest in @CoinDesk

55 Years of Financial Surveillance

Reform needs to happen before the Bank Secrecy Act gets to celebrate its next big milestone, argues Nicholas Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato ...

At @Plan ₿ Network , @Efrat Fenigson asked me about the importance of financial privacy. And on a note of optimism, I shared why the rise of tools like @vexl 😎 , Cashu, Signal, and Proton gives me hope.

Dang. Hello to the tons of new folks I met in Lugano and Prague! If you want all of my latest work directly in your inbox, check out my Substack. (And yes, there's no charge.)

Banking, Bureaucracy, and Beyond | Nick Anthony | Substack

Everything you need to stay up to speed on the policy conversations surrounding central bank digital currency, financial privacy, banking, and more...

ECB President Christine Lagarde said the “ECB’s climate and nature plan [extends to] the potential introduction of a digital euro.” She said the CBDC must be energy efficient “unlike certain crypto-assets, which often rely on energy-intensive mining infrastructures.” Find out more in the HRF CBDC Tracker.

CBDC Tracker

A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...

Have you been looking for an hour-long live stream where three people explain in detail how the US government robbed people of their financial privacy with the Bank Secrecy Act? Well, you're in luck. That's exactly what will be happening today at 11 am Eastern. https://www.cato.org/events/fifty-five-years-bank-secrecy-act

The @HRF CBDC Tracker now has data on more than 145 different jurisdictions.

CBDC Tracker

A CBDC is a digital national currency. In the case of the United States, a CBDC would be a digital form of the U.S. dollar whereas, in Nigeria, the...

It’s incredibly disappointing that the Department of Justice has denied my FOIA request and appeal. President Biden requested a report on how to create CBDC legislation, but the folks currently in charge have decided this information should be hidden from the public. The issue dates back to 2022 when President Biden placed “the highest urgency on research and development efforts into the potential design and deployment options of a United States CBDC.” As part of this effort, President Biden instructed the Department of Justice to put together an “assessment of whether legislative changes would be necessary to issue a United States CBDC.” Yet, the report never saw the light of day. When it became clear that the report wasn't going to be published, I submitted a FOIA request and members of Congress wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Still, nothing. https://www.cato.org/blog/white-house-doj-keeps-cbdc-legislation-secret-cato-rep-hill-seek-answers I thought the change in administration might mean I would get the documents faster given how vocally opposed President Trump has been to CBDCs. Yet, instead, the request still ended in rejection. In explaining the rejection, the Department of Justice says releasing the information “would harm the interests” of the government. Given how the rise of CBDCs has increasingly become a public concern, the American people deserve to know what the Department of Justice and the White House think needs to be done to create a CBDC.

It is absolutely wrong for the New York Times to say a CBDC has "no risk of frozen funds." The Vietnamese government reportedly just froze 86 million accounts, the Russian government froze the accounts of Alexei Navalny and his allies, the Canadian government froze the accounts of the Freedom Convoy protests, the Nigerian government froze the accounts of people protesting policy brutality... Do I need to go on? And this is to say nothing of the fact that private providers often freeze accounts because they have been deputized as law enforcement.

#Bitaxe